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THE YEAR IS 1955. Eisenhower is president, the McCarthy hearings are over, and Lolly Candolin has given her father an ultimatum: "Stop drinking or I'll cut my hair." Her father, refusing to have his life dictated by a ten-year-old child, retaliates by tossing Lolly's aged cat Bo, wrapped in a burlap sack, down into a gypsy camp from the high levee surrounding the town. Going against everything she's been told, Lolly ventures into the gypsy camp on her own, where she befriends a cast of misfits, including: Tick, a tomboy her own age; Sophia, Tick's mother and gifted healer; and Sam, the unofficial leader of Cougarville, and the owner of a pet cougar. It's not long before Lolly and her new friends are caught in a maelstrom of murder and intrigue as the county sheriff is shot and killed at a local saloon, with all evidence pointing to Sam. Lolly's father, the county prosecutor with everything to lose, goes after the case full bore, determined to see Sam convicted and executed. Things become even more complicated for Lolly when, during a clandestine mission to warn the Cougarville residents of her father's brutal intentions, she discovers the identity of the true killer, putting into motion a terrible dilemma that no young girl should ever have to face. Revealing her evidence will not only set an innocent man free, but destroy both her father's career and any chance of winning what she yearns for most: her father's approval. Elizabeth Appell's debut novel, LESSONS FROM THE GYPSY CAMP explores the tension between individualism and family obligation, the complexity of discerning right from wrong, and the overwhelming consequences of pursuing truth and justice.
